


it's raining somewhere else

by aphwhales



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, Humanoid Creatures that aren't actually Human, Humanstuck, Implied/Referenced Minor Character Death, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-05
Updated: 2018-07-05
Packaged: 2019-06-05 13:50:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15172067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aphwhales/pseuds/aphwhales
Summary: Girlfriends Jane, Roxy, and Calliope are exploring an island, mainly for zoological purposes. That's a little impossible with all this rain, even though it's only the second day of their expedition. Zoologist Jane doesn't expect to find much more than some reptiles and fish, but there's something watching over them. Something humanoid.





	it's raining somewhere else

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sallowsunflowers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sallowsunflowers/gifts).



> Roxy (tech expert, meteorologist), Jane (zoologist) and Calliope (botanist, amazing drawer), scientific team extraordinaire, discover a tiny island filled with all kinds of new and exciting plant and animal species! But they can sense something else on the island, not sinister exactly, but definitely watching them. 
> 
> this prompt dragged me from my bed and slammed my head against my keyboard. it was just so good.

"So," Roxy begins, spinning needlessly in a few a circles on her ratty old chair. "I believe we'll find at least fifty new species of plants and or animals! _If_ it ever stops fucking raining!" 

Calliope, peeking out from the tent flaps, mumbles something. Roxy leans back dangerously far and calls, "Can't hear ya, babe!" 

Calliope turns back and pushes her bandana up from her brow. "I said, it doesn't look like it will let up." 

You sigh. "I wish it would. At least you two can study weather and plants while it's raining - most animals don't come out during rainstorms." 

"I told you in college, Janey," Roxy replies, spinning again. "Zoology sucks. Also, shh, I gotta calibrate the radar thing again. This weather is batshit-fucking-crazy." She pulls on her boots and coat, zips it and flips the hood up in a fluid motion, and steps out into the storm. Calliope stares out you, and you stare back. Then, you both burst into giggles. 

"Our," You wheeze with laughter. "Our all-important tech expert and meteorologist is absolutely incapable of being serious!" Calliope nods in agreement as she giggles breathlessly. 

Roxy comes back minutes later, absolutely drenched, but much more serious than before. "Guys. I think something is out there." 

"What, like a dinosaur," Callie snorts.

"No, like. Something not human," Roxy replies, glancing out the tent flaps before zipping them shut again and pinning them under the weight of her rain boots. "I saw it's eyes flash when I shined my headlamp into the woods. Human eyes don't do that, do they, Miss Zoologist?" 

"No, they do not," you reply, scooting your stool up to your makeshift workstation - a folding snack table covered in notebooks and tattered books borrowed from your cousin Jake. You flip through some of your notes, but you only arrived here yesterday, firstly, and secondly, all of your data, including Roxy's meteorology data, suggests cold-blooded reptiles or amphibians. "Most primates don't. What was the size range, would you say?" 

"Can I use this for scale?" Roxy asks. Calliope nods, and Roxy pulls a drawing from Calliope's desk. Some anime character is now having a shadowy thing sketched next to it, only slightly smaller than it. "Probably about Callie's height. Little taller. Mighta been hair." 

You lean back and sigh. "So what do you think?" 

"I think," Roxy says, stretching her back, "that since the sky is clearing a bit, and it's still kinda early, we should go out and see what critters we can find for you, Janey. Because as you said, botany and meteorology are both possible in rainstorms, zoology isn't always." 

"Callie?" You ask.

Calliope nods and sticks her pencil behind her ear. "I think we should go. I'm curious now." Oh, fearless Callie. You had forgotten that she loves mysteries like this. 

Roxy tosses you your boots and pulls her own on, and Callie searches through her bag for her waterproof hat. You figure it's likely still damp out, and now you kind of wish you had brought a waterproof hat, but alas, all you have is a sunhat. You pull your raincoat from it's bag and button it quickly as Roxy inspects the sky. You and Calliope join her outside when you're thoroughly protected against any lingering water. 

"Alright, ladies." Roxy says, switching on her headlamp. You do the same, and Callie pulls out her flashlight and flicks it on, illuminating a worn path. Worn by who, you don't know. "Let's get going." 

Despite this being a primarily zoological trip, Roxy is pretty much the leader, but you don't mind much. You were never much of a leader, except when it comes to cooking (which, you suppose, is why Roxy isn't allowed to cook at home). Trees loom above you on both sides as you enter the woods, and one side becomes more rocky as the path veers towards the center of the island. Calliope holds your hand tightly, and in her other hand, the flashlight trembles, the beam shaking against the soggy ground. 

"Hey, um. What if this... thing? What if it doesn't want to be found?" She asks nervously. 

Roxy reaches around you and squeezes Callie's shoulder, then pulls back and squeezes yours, too. "Jake lent me a gun," she mumbles. "I can take on any beast to keep you guys safe." 

"Let's take a rest," you interrupt, motioning to a mostly dry rock. When the other two agree, you swing your backpack off and hold it between your knees. With your now free hands, you unzip it and hand your girlfriends their respective water bottles - pink and purple with a polka dotted pattern for Roxy, green with a grass-like pattern for Callie. Your own is at the bottom, patterned with blue and yellow flowers. 

"You got any food in there?" Roxy asks. Calliope is downing her water, but also glancing left and right. Fearless, nervous Callie, you think. 

Then. "Jane. There." 

Between the trees maybe three yards in front of you, something is crouched in the shadows. It's humanoid, short - maybe Callie's height - with messily cropped hair and what looks like a long piece of fabric covering its shoulders. 

You stand. It flinches back. You don't move forward, but you call, not loudly, but enough that it will hear you, "E-excuse me! Do you live alone here?" 

It flinches again, and raises a hand in what seems to be a warning. You turn, and Roxy is nudging her bag closer to her with her foot. "Roxy!" You hiss. 

When you turn back, the creature is already gone. 

~

You wander like that for hours, Calliope guiding you by map, but evidently, she, you, and Roxy hadn't been on the same page that first day, because none of you know where you're going now, or where you are. You have three granola bars in your bag, Calliope has two sandwiches and a bag of fruit, and Roxy has some sugary snacks. There isn't any fresh water that you've found, yet, but there must be if that creature was living here, because it didn't seem amphibious. 

"It's going to pour," Roxy observes sullenly, pulling her hood over her head. "We'll get soaked either way, but let's see if there's any shelter, yeah?" 

Calliope nods, and you agree wholeheartedly, flipping your hood up as Roxy leads again. When it does start pouring, it's an absolute downpour. It feels like you're swimming in your shoes, despite the two pairs of socks you're wearing, and you're sure you're wet to your core. It's a long, soaking rain, and eventually the three of you are reduced to wandering, clasping each other's hands to keep track of one another, but also for comfort, and looking for a cave, a large rock - something. 

Calliope points it out. "Look, Jane, do you think anything would live there?" It's a large cave - deep, by the looks of it, but dry near the front, even. 

"Possibly. If anything does, though, it's either small, or it lives near the back, and the front is dry, see?" 

"Good enough for me," Roxy says, pulling you and Callie towards it. 

You're there for a good half hour, barely warmed and with not much hope for the rain letting up when you hear the voice. "In. Deeper in." 

Roxy looks at you. Calliope is looking in the dark with her flashlight beam. Finally, Roxy says, "My line of work, I guess. Or closest to it." 

It's not deep, or dangerous - rather, it seems to go up, and opens more as you go. Whenever you stop, the voice calls. "Keep going, deeper. End of cave. Flickery light." 

The end comes to a sharp fork - sharp left, or sharp right. The right seems to go into the ground, and it's dark. The left is level with the path you're on, but the light doesn't seem to change. Then, "Leave gun outside, pink girl. Not like weapon. Know you have it." 

Roxy blinks and pulls Jake's gun out of her backpack, unloads it, and lays the empty gun in a small crag in the cave wall. The bullets she puts into the front pocket of her bag. Then, she motions for you and Callie to go on. 

It's getting lighter, slowly, and as the voice said, that light is flickering. When you get close enough, you can see there's a small torch bolted to the wall. Or - not bolted, exactly, but held to it, somehow. "Does a person live here?" You ask Callie and Roxy. 

"Not human." Answers the voice. "Will tell. Seem friendly, will tell." 

The torches are places at odd intervals - nearly equal, but just off enough to be noticeable. In some places, blood, soot, and ashes stain the walls, almost like drawings or sketches. In others, they stain the floor, but not in a pattern or defined way - more like something bleeding or burning was being dragged through this hallway. Roxy clenches your hand when you gulp. 

At long last, you reach what seems to a chamber of some sort. There are animal pelts and torches everywhere, and actual comprehensible drawings in the same materials that littered the hallway. Something is burning - and there is the source of your voice. In front of the fireplace, stewing something in a copper pot, is the humanoid creature. When it turns and stands, only Roxy does not flinch. 

The creature is, as you thought, about Callie's height, with hair around Roxy's length, but messier, black, and curly. She's female, now that you can see her in the light. Her skin is dark and freckled, and her fingertips end with sharp, long nails, almost as claws. She's still clad only in a large piece of fabric wrapped around her shoulders, and you look away, blushing. She's beautiful, whatever she happens to be. 

"Friend upset?" 

"Nah," Roxy replies. "Just modest." 

"Mo...dest?" 

"Shy. Like, uh. She doesn't usually walk around without clothes on." 

"Have no clothes." The creature replies. "Sorry."

"It. It's fine," you choke a bit. "Just wasn't quite ready." 

"Will find other fabric." And then she leaves you alone in her... living room? 

"Okay, she's gotta be human," Roxy tells you, getting down to business as you catch your breath. "No way she isn't. She speaks English." 

"She has claws," Calliope interjects.

"Maybe she's just a feral kid, I dunno." Roxy shrugs. "Janey?" 

You hold a hand up. 

"Aw, Janey's got a crush on our little arguably human cryptid friend here." Roxy coos. 

"I do not." You say, completely composed. "She's very cute, though. I'm not sure. We could try the very effective method of.... wait for it.... asking her." 

Roxy rolls her eyes. 

~

Through dinner conversation held over a few different kinds of fish, you learn the creature's name is Nepeta. She has no idea what she is, but human is not it - she extended her nails at will and cut a fish in half, right through the bones, to demonstrate. Roxy had stared wide eyed with a look that said she wanted to see that again. 

Calliope just giggled and bit into some sort of strange fish without cutting it with one of the sharp spoons Nepeta gave her. 

After dinner, you ask if you can question her for your research. Roxy and Callie lay all over each other on one pelt, and Nepeta drapes herself across your lap and makes a noise not unlike a purr. You settle for leaning your notebook on her bare back instead of your knees. "Do you know how you got here?" 

She rolls over and blinks at you. "Walked in. Came from forest." 

"No, no. I mean, were you born on this island?"

Nepeta sticks her bottom lip out as she thinks. "Yes. Maybe." 

"Probably?" Callie supplies from Roxy's arms. Nepeta nods enthusiastically, and crawls into your arms in a similar way. You give up on the notebook and simply hold her. She nuzzles your face, a bit like a cat. She's very warm - probably warmer than a human, you figure. You have no way of checking, though, because your thermometer is back in the tent. 

"Who taught you English?" Is your next question.

"En...glish?" Nepeta repeats, stretching the word out like she does when it's one she's never heard. 

"Here, uh. She wants to know who taught you to speak." Roxy supplies. Nepeta brightens up. 

"Equius!" She chirps. 

"Equius?" All three of you parrot back. 

Nepeta nods. "Came with brother. Stayed with when brother went home. Was good friend." Quieter, she adds, "Died. While ago." She points to a drawing on the wall, more detailed than the others. It's a portrait of a long-haired man, with broad shoulders and a long face, but somehow Nepeta had made it seem warm and friendly despite the cold expression. "Miss him," she mumbles, placing a hand on the edge of the portrait. 

"I'm sorry," Calliope murmurs, reaching out to pat Nepeta's shoulder. "It sounds like he's the only contact you've ever had." 

"Had Pounce, too. Mother," she adds, when Roxy opens her mouth. "Died before Equius. Miss her too." Nepeta rolls over to lay between you and the other two, and says. "Long time since people have been here. Is nice." 

"I have one more question, dear," you mumble, just above the noise of the fire. Nepeta nods and turns her head towards you. "Do you know what you are?" 

"Don't.... know?" Nepeta hums thoughtfully. "Cat." 

"Not a full cat," Roxy giggles. "I got some of those at home. You here all by yourself?" 

Nepeta nods. "Live alone, since Equius." 

"No, on this island." 

"Frogs and fish. No one speaking." Nepeta replies. "You are first speaking since Equius." 

"Is it always so rainy outside?" Roxy asks, squinting at the ceiling. If you listen closely, you can hear the rain over the fire. It sounds like it hasn't let up at all, despite it having been many hours since you entered Nepeta's cave. 

"Always wet," Nepeta says with disgust. "Too many puddles." 

"You really are like a cat," Callie observes with a smile. 

"Hate water," Nepeta agrees, nodding vigorously. Her eyes flick to the ceiling. "Rain will let up soon. Will show you back to tent." 

"And you?" Callie asks with concern. 

"Will come back here. Wait for more people." Nepeta grins. She has pointy teeth, and a few fangs. "Eat fish." 

"You could come back," you blurt. "With us." 

"Yeah," Roxy agrees. "I like you. I'm gonna miss you." 

Nepeta grins again, a bit sadder this time. "Will be here, always. Come back. See me?" 

Roxy grins back and hugs her tight, kisses her under the ear. "Definitely." 

You smile sadly at them, and when Nepeta turns to you, you hug her tightly, and ask, "Will we see you again, this trip?"

Nepeta pulls away - not far, just enough to see your face - and frowns. "Not leave cave," she murmurs, leaning back into your shoulder. "Dangerous for me. Pounce said so. Only leave for hunting." 

"We'll come back here before we leave, then," Calliope responds. She too hugs Nepeta, not quite as tightly, but just as long, and says, "I'll miss you." 

"Will miss you all, too." Nepeta responds. She pulls a torch off the wall and hands it to you as though she's handing you something precious. "Rain let up. Able to see path with this." 

The three of you loiter there for a bit, before Roxy mumbles sadly about more rain incoming and keeping the torch safe. This time, only Callie keeps track of the map, and you make sure you can find Nepeta again. 

You're sure there will be many, many more visits to this island for you and your girlfriends in the future.


End file.
